On your feet!
by TheWanderingCamel
Unless you are planning on doing some scrambling or serious hiking, sandals are plenty good enough. They are fine when riding a camel or riding a jeep, and you will get sand in your shoes anyway, you might as well have an easy way of getting them out again.
If you are hiking then good trekking sandals are ideal. See note above about getting sand out of your shoes.
You can also wear trainers, but just for walking or riding they are hot and get sweaty very quickly. They are good for easy scrambling though. In any case you should have with you a pair of sandals for relaxing in the evenings or over lunch. It gives your other shoes a chance to dry out a bit! Thong sandals are ideal here, light and easy to put into a rucksack.
Making Bedouin coffee
by TheWanderingCamel
First you grill the beans and the cardamon. Then you grind them up in a pestle with a mortar. You pour hot water on them and reheat the mixture. Then - you only have to drink it! This coffee is pale in colour, almost the same colour as honey, it is "Arab" coffee, not Turkish. But it is very good!
Note the pestle, mortar and coffee pot in brass that are waiting for to be used. Many older men have a "full set" of coffee pots in brass, all sizes for all occasions. For the moment my friend contents himself with a medium to small pot - they are very expensive.
Traditionally the head of the family makes the coffee. He should be "clean in heart and body" or the coffee will not be good!
Posted by Lulu
Desert chess!
by TheWanderingCamel
There's a wicked game that the Bedouin play in the desert not just in Wadi Rum, but all over. It is just as absorbing as chess although the games don't go on for as long.
Called "sieja" it is played with what is handy; small stones, twigs, olive pits and even camel droppings! The "board" is laid out in the sand, and the game is to surround and remove the otherplayer's "men".
Scrambling in heaven and in Wadi Rum
by TheWanderingCamel
Instead of driving around in the sand in a jeep, why not get up into the mountains in Wadi Rum?
Many of the "Bedouin Roads" need no equipment and are easily climbed by people who are reasonably fit and have a good head for heights.You would need a guide to take you on these routes, many of which have been used by the bedouin for centuries.
You make your way up rocky gullies, through canyons and come out onto a summit with a wonderful view over the rocky massifs of Wadi Rum.
You will certainly have to use your hands to climb, and sometimes you are walking along a ledge no more than a metre or so wide.
At the end of the day you will have had an unforgettable experience which very few people have the luck (or the initiative) to seek out. You need no special equipment for this except a good pair of shoes. For most of the roads trainers are enough. Your guide might be in bare feet!
In just a few places ropes are advisable and a good guide will usually have one along anyway.
Camel Trekking around Wadi Rum
by hinz01
I always look for a trip "off the beaten path", for myself it's the best way to travel. But don't hesitate to do it. No hotel, no accomodations, no comfort try to live like people in this area have to live some times open the eyes (I hope my eyes havent been totaly colesd during my travels, but i have so much to learn). I coulnd't describe my feelings during those trips, i hope my pictures will tell it.
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The restaurant
Jumping by MICHAEL, VTer MLW20, Wadi Rum, Jordan
Mehedi our guide, on top of Jebel Um Ad Dami
Cheers and welcome.
